Is it Alex Ovechkin and the high-powered Russians? Is it an Under-24 team of North American Youngstars who have nothing to lose or a team of European castoffs who are motivated by spite? Is it the U.S., whom Canada defeated to win gold at the 2010 Olympics? Is it the Swedes, whom Canada defeated to win gold in 2014?

Then again, you cannot count out Finland, which unexpectedly made it to the championship final the last time this tournament was held. Or the Czech Republic, who famously upset Canada and the rest of the world at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano.

Maybe, as organizers are hoping, it is everyone in what appears to be a competitive eight-team World Cup. Here is a look at what Canada is up against:

USA

In the last several years, the U.S. has replaced Russia as Canada’s top rival. And for good reason. The U.S. has some of most talented wingers in the world (Patrick Kane, Phil Kessel, Max Pacioretty, Blake Wheeler) and a goaltender in Jonathan Quick who has won two Stanley Cups in the last four years. Where there are question marks is down the middle. With Montreal’s Alex Galchenyuk and Buffalo’s Jack Eichel playing on the North American Youngstars team, the U.S. will rely on either San Jose’s Joe Pavelski or Tampa Bay’s Tyler Johnson as the No. 1 centre.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kevin Van Paassen

Russia

Any conversation about Russia starts with Alex Ovechkin. The five-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner is one of the best scorers of all time, but replicating that success on the world stage has been difficult without Capitals linemate Nicklas Backstrom by his side. That could change now that Evgeny Kuznetsov (10 assists) is playing with Ovechkin. Along with Vladimir Tarasenko (seven goals), Artemi Panarin (15 points) and Nikita Kucherov (five goals and nine points), Russia should have no trouble scoring. And with Sergei Bobrovsky (.882 save percentage) or Semyon Varlamov (.890 save percentage) as the goalies, Russia could use all the offence it can get.

Sweden

Sweden, which won a silver medal at the 2014 Olympics, is undergoing a bit of a transition. While the team is still relying on older players, like Henrik Lundqvist, Henrik Zetterberg, and Daniel and Henrik Sedin, the country’s success could hinge on whether the next generation of stars can take a step forward. Filip Forsberg, Mika Zibanejad, John Klingberg and Jonis Brodin were part of the team that won gold at the 2012 world junior championship. Not all of them will make this team. But as with Sochi, where Erik Karlsson made his Olympic debut and led the tournament in scoring, fresh blood is important.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Finland

With Teemu Selanne’s illustrious international career now over, Finland lacks a game-breaker who can score a timely goal or give opposing defenders fits with an out-of-this-world skill-set. But don’t discount the Finns. They might have a forward group made up entirely of second- and third-liners — Mikko Koivu and Jussi Jokinen are their highest scorers — but you can bet they will be as competitive as ever. A big reason for that is goaltending, where Pekka Rinne and Tuukka Rask will battle for the No. 1 job. In other words, one goal might be all Finland needs to win games.

Europe

No one knows for sure what anthem will get played if the best-of-the-rest team ends ups winning the World Cup. Before we get that far, the bigger question is whether a team made up of several different countries can quickly come together and play as one. From Slovakia’s Zdeno Chara and Tomas Tatar to Slovenia’s Anze Kopitar and Switzerland’s Roman Josi, Team Europe has considerable talent. But international competition requires sacrifice. That is easy to do when you’re playing for your country. But if the players do not buy in, it does not matter how talented the team is.

North America

How will a lack of experience hurt the North American Youngstars? It might not be a problem at forward, where Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Sean Couturier and Brandon Saad will have four NHL seasons under their belt. The same goes on defence, where Seth Jones, Morgan Rielly and Dougie Hamilton will have logged more than 200 NHL games. Goaltending, however, is a different story. While young legs can be an advantage (see: Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel), the fact that all the potential goalies are currently playing in the minors could be a major challenge.

AP Photo/Mark Humphrey

Czech Republic

On paper, the Czech Republic is the weakest team at the World Cup. But the same might have been true 17 years ago, when Dominik Hasek stood on his head and upset Canada in an overtime shootout at the 1998 Nagano Olympics. Florida’s Jaromir Jagr, who is 43 years old, remains the only link to that gold medal-winning team. And in a lot of ways, he epitomizes a Czech team that will rely on older players — the top eight scorers from the Czech Republic are 27 or older — and stellar goaltending from either Detroit’s Petr Mrazek or Winnipeg’s Ondrej Pavelec for another upset.